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She just had to remember that he could never love her – could never trust her – the way someone who was truly in love would.
Damen was so attuned to his new wife’s feelings that he noticed the moment her smile dimmed ever so slightly. His heart clenched at the sight of it. “Mairi?”
Looking at his eyes, Mairi found whatever she had thought of saying dying in her throat. The look of fierce concern on his gorgeous face made her every misgiving fade.
How she loved this man.
Loved him so, so much it was just impossible to explain the magnitude of it.
And so in the end all she could whisper with a tremulous smile, akin to the old days, was, “Hi.”
But the concern on his face did not ease. “Something is troubling you.”
Her smile widened a little at the words. He spoke them as if they were an accusation and that she had no right to feel bad because he was there to go to battle for her.
She said half-honestly, “You’re too close.” When he raised one quizzical brow at her, she muttered, “It’s hard to think when you’re this close.”
Damen only frowned at her.
She frowned back at him. Did the man seriously think it was only his billions that made him hot? If he did, he needed to have his eyes checked.
At her unhappy frown, Damen realized with surprise – and pleasure – that Mairi did mean every word. Satisfaction coursed through him, and mixed with it was more than a good amount of possessiveness. She still wanted him. He could work with that. He would work on that. It would be his topmost priority to make Mairi forget another man’s touch to the point that her mind, body, and heart would only remember Damen.
Mairi’s heart started to race when Damen looked at her with hooded eyes. Oh no, she knew that look. And it spelled trouble.
And her suspicions were proved correct when her husband murmured in a low sexy voice, “You think I’m hot then, ne?”
Oh God, the words had even become a hundred times sexier because Damen didn’t hold back on his Greek accent. The darn man knew how she loved his accent, and he was using it to his advantage!
Thankfully, she was saved from replying by the pilot announcing that the seatbelt sign was on, signaling their descent.
Damen took the seat next to his wife and immediately bent towards Mairi to buckle her belt for her.
“I can do it myself,” she protested weakly, trying not to inhale too much of his wonderfully male scent. God, it was so unfair. Why did Damen always smell so darn good? Damen didn’t answer and when he moved back, she sucked her breath in as the side of his arm brushed against her breasts, which immediately caused her nipples to harden under her blouse.
When Damen inhaled sharply, too, Mairi cringed in a mixture of embarrassment and arousal, realizing it meant Damen was aware of her body’s instant reaction to his proximity.
As Damen returned to his seat, she turned away, closing her eyes and biting her lip hard. She had the stupidest urge to bury her head in the sand and plead with him to forget everything and just run away from the problems that haunted them. If he could promise that he would pretend to love her forever, then she was good with that.
The thought made Mairi ashamed of her weakness, and she bit her lip harder, willing herself to get over it. Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. She had to be strong for Damen and for all the people who were silly enough to love her.
The roaring of the jet’s descent cued her to taking deep breaths.
Please God, please make me strong.
“We’re here.”
Damen’s quiet words made her look at him. His face was grim and it struck her then, and she felt even more ashamed at how she had momentarily allowed herself to wallow in her selfish self-pity. It wasn’t only her life that had been turned upside-down.
The last time Damen Leventis had been in his homeland, he had been a Greek billionaire, running his own business empire and flying in his own private jet.
Now, he only had…her.
Damen was bemused when Mairi suddenly held his hand and squeezed it hard. When their eyes met, she gave him a determined smile. “We can do this.”
His chest constricted at his wife’s battle-ready expression. A five-foot former schoolteacher was ready to fight one of the world’s richest women and a power-hungry shipping magnate for him. God, how he loved her. He knew then that he would never deserve her, but he would try his damnedest to at least get close to being worthy of Mairi’s selfless devotion.
And maybe, maybe if he tried hard enough, maybe one day she would learn to love him again.
As the jet’s door opened and slowly revealed them to the public, the media’s first shot of the newlywed couple was of Damen and Mairi Leventis holding hands.
Damen drew Mairi close to him protectively, doing his best to shield her from the blinding glare of cameras that photographers managed to shove at their faces despite the security team that Stavros and Ioniko had sent in preparation of their arrival. It was a bitter pill for Damen to swallow, asking help from other people, but for Mairi he would do anything.
Mairi did her best to keep her smile in place as Damen forged a way through the crowd to the car waiting for them. Just when she was beginning to believe they would make it, one of the paparazzi shouted, “Is it true he and Alina Kokinos lived under one roof while you were gone?”
The question threw Mairi back to that awful day she had met Alina, the same woman Damen once called a “real lady”, and the other woman had revealed to her what had been happening while Mairi had been away.
“Damen and I have been sharing a bed, too…”
Mairi stumbled.
Cameras exploded into action, every lens able to capture the heartbreaking pain flashing on Mairi’s face.
Damen caught her before she fell completely, and this time his arm went around her waist like an anchor.
Mairi’s distressed look had Damen whitening because he knew – he fucking knew the exact reason why Mairi was looking like that. He started to speak, but the words burned into nothing when Mairi shook her head.
Teeth clenching, he held nothing back this time, aggressively making his way to the car and only allowing himself to breathe when he had Mairi stowed safely inside Ioniko’s limousine. As the door closed behind them, he began, “Mairi—”
She forced a smile. “I’m okay. It’s the past.”
“Let me explain—”
“You don’t have to.” Looking down, Mairi whispered, “It’s not as if I didn’t do the same thing.” She waited for Damen to speak after that, but he did not. When she made herself look at him, Damen was gazing outside the window, his face hard, his body tense.
Mairi’s fingers dug into her palms. She had a foolish urge to take the words back, but she didn’t. It didn’t matter if she had completely crossed the line or not. She had given Drake the right to touch her, and she would forever regret that.
Damen struggled to keep his emotions in check, a near impossibility when he felt so fucking strongly. He would always feel strongly about Mairi, but more so when he was reminded that his cruelty and idiocy had pushed her into the arms of another man.
By the time the car had reached his house – the one property Esther couldn’t touch since it wasn’t tied to his corporate assets – Damen resolved to clear the air with Mairi. He had to make her understand that he would never blame her for what had happened. Maybe this was also the time he would tell her that he would never give her up to Drake Morrison either.
The chauffeur opened their door, and Damen stepped out first to assist his wife. When they turned around, it was only then they noticed the man waiting at the front door. He was dressed in a light brown suit, which coincidentally was the perfect complement to Mairi’s own beige pantsuit.
What the fuck was this, Damen thought. If Mairi and the other man stood next to each other, they’d have passed for Ken and Barbie in their matching outfits.
When he looked at Mairi, her eyes were wide with shock and, Damen noted with grim jealousy, nothing that resembled displeasure in any way.
His jaw clenched.
Whatever the reason Morrison was here didn’t matter.
He would never change his mind.
He would never give Mairi up, not even if she changed her mind and wanted to leave him for Morrison instead.
Chapter Three
She said: To wed a Greek billionaire, one must be ready to welcome unexpected guests.
He said: I completely agree. Next time that man comes knocking on our door, I will have the guard dogs ready to bite his fucking ass off for coming within five feet of my wife.
“You came to see…Damen?” Mairi was aware how dumb she sounded with her question, but she really was that dumbfounded. She wished she had the courage to look at Drake – or Damen – but she didn’t. All she could do was flip her iPhone repeatedly in her hand as if it was a ball, anything to keep her busy and not think.
Damen had invited Drake to come inside his home. His innate graciousness, albeit cold, had made Mairi flush but for the life of her, she just could not make herself speak. And here she was, stunned anew when Drake explained in that calm way of his that he was here to speak with Damen.
